Some of the biggest global industrial real estate players are creating a formidable distribution, warehouse and manufacturing hub where the 47-mile-long E-470 beltway intersects I-70 in Aurora.

There, the toll road and interstate highway commingle with Union Pacific's railroad lines, and manufacturing and warehouse tenants are 10 minutes from the Denver International and Front Range airports.

Industrial real estate companies such as Catellus, ProLogis, Lauth Property Group and Ringsby Realty envisioned the potential for an industrial center several years ago. They began buying up land when it was relatively cheap, said Wendy Mitchell, president of the Aurora Economic Development Council.

"At that point it was pretty much open farmland out there," Mitchell said. "Now that intersection is kind of the future of the industrial market from the standpoint of access to infrastructure."

Aurora-based ProLogis, now the world's largest industrial real estate company after a recent $4.9 billion merger with Catellus, began scoping out and comparing potential industrial sites across metro Denver several years ago, said Tyson Chave, ProLogis vice president of capital development.

"At the end of the day, that site was just the clear choice" to best accommodate its tenant customers, Chave said. "We're trying to leverage off air cargo distribution, certainly rail and truck traffic. If you look along the corridor, we really feel like anything west of there, there is not a lot of land available."

ProLogis holds hundreds of acres at the northeast and northwest corners of the E-470 and I-70 interchange. It's enough land to build elephantine buildings with 32-foot clear heights, loading docks and vast parking lots for tractor-trailers, said Wayne Barrett, ProLogis vice president and Denver market officer.

The ProLogis Park 70 will include 2.7 million square feet of distribution and industrial space at build-out. One of its first tenants was General Motors' parts and service operation, which got a railroad spur running directly into its building.

In November, MasterCrafts Cabinets signed a long-term lease for all but 80,000 square feet of a new ProLogis 283,000-square-foot spec building.

ProLogis has another 110 acres with 6 million square feet of development potential, all located near its new $20 million headquarters at Gateway Park near DIA.

Lauth Property Group is about to break ground on a 408,000-square-foot distribution facility at the E-70 and I-70 intersection as well. The speculative construction will begin this spring on 162 acres as part of the 2.5-million-square-foot Aurora Commerce Center slated for traditional distribution and manufacturing tenants, said Austin Lehr, Lauth's Western region partner.

Lehr said it's common for industrial companies to cluster at such sites, and he believes this one is a logical growth extension of the industrial corridor along I-70.

"There is definitely a bit of a herd mentality," Lehr said. "As far as our project and that of ProLogis and other folks, I think the timing is appropriate for the expected growth in Denver. We're not too early or too late."

Catellus readies its plans

At the northwest corner of the interchange, Catellus has its EastGate Business Center on 295 acres. It will include 3.5 million square feet of Class A distribution and warehouse space. Nearby, at a site just east of Tower Road and Pena Boulevard, Catellus also is planning a 320-acre mixed-use development with office space, housing, a golf course and hotels.

At the southwest corner of the intersection, the Horizon City Center will be part of a 503-acre parcel with mixed-use commercial, retail and residential project.

"It will be mostly industrial and office with a large retail piece," Mitchell said. "I think that will make it a little more interesting and attractive for the area in terms of offering restaurants and entertainment."

Companies such as General Motors and MasterCraft that want to distribute goods along the Front Range and to other states chose the site because they're able to jump onto the E-470 beltway that begins at the I-25/C-470 interchange in Lone Tree. It runs east and north through wide expanses of prairie land in Aurora, passes west of DIA and connects to I-76 in Brighton. From there it curves west and ends at an interchange west of I-25 and the Northwest Parkway in Thornton.

Some 95 commercial, residential and retail projects spanning 55,000 acres are either in the works or on the drawing board along the beltway, according to the E-470 Public Highway Authority.

The area is growing so quickly that a $29 million flyway is under construction to ease burgeoning traffic congestion at stoplights near the E-470/I-70 interchange and Gun Club Road.

The Stapleton development farther west was once a focal point, but numerous other industrial developments farther east include Majestic Realty's Commercenter on 1,000 acres at I-70 and Tower Road. It will grow from 2 million square feet to 15 million square feet at build-out.

Airways Park features industrial and business park sites at Smith and Tower roads, with platted and fully developed lots available. The Pauls Co. is developing the 1,200-acre master-planned Gateway Park at I-70 and Pena Boulevard, Mitchell said.

The plethora of development is welcome news for metro Denver's overall industrial market, which has sputtered in recent years but is slowly improving, according to a CB Richard Ellis year-end report. It noted that demand during the fourth quarter helped push the overall vacancy rate to 8.5 percent from 8.9 percent. Absorption -- a key indicator -- surged to more than 1 million square feet, marking the highest level in more than a year, CB Richard Ellis reported.

Mitchell has seen more interested prospects so she believes the tide is starting to turn, particularly near the confluence of E-470 and I-70.

"I think it's one of those situations where the stars are sort of aligned," Mitchell said. "It's probably the most expansive piece of land that's available that is still very close to the metropolitan area -- without having to go too far north or south."